PC modularity

My AMD processor was heating up too much off late and this prompted me to finally move off the stock cooler after using it for a year. I didn’t want anything too fancy, so went for a nice looking air cooler that fit within my budget. Temps are now good and my PC runs cool now. What a relief; but it got me thinking.

Overall this build cost me close to 100k (after adding 3070 graphic card), but the next time I need to upgrade my CPU I will need to upgrade the motherboard as well. The RAM modules I use will be outdated by then and they would need to be replaced as well. Assuming prices remain at the same levels, adjusted for inflation I would be spending another 50-51k just for these components.

While PCs are indeed modular, the inter-dependencies are so tight that upgrade path is as good as getting a new PC. This is before taking into account GPU upgrade or a need for an SSD replacement that might come up.

With economics like this, it is no wonder that more and more people are opting for gaming consoles in India despite there being money to spend.

The next few years are going to see some rapid changes in the PC market which might be down RISC-based processors, or with x86 giving way for ARM. Either way I feel that the upgrade potential for today’s PCs will be limited. Just my gut feeling.


What do you think? Leave a Reply